SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Two authorities contractors had been sentenced this week for his or her involvement in separate bribery schemes during which they gave funds to the mayor of the municipality of Cataño, Puerto Rico, in change for the mayor’s awarding of municipal contracts to their respective firms.
Mario Villegas-Vargas, 44, of Gurabo, Puerto Rico, was sentenced right now to 46 months in jail for conspiracy to commit federal funds bribery. In keeping with court docket paperwork, Villegas-Vargas paid kickbacks and bribes in change for the mayor exerting his affect on municipal officers in Cataño to make sure that Villegas-Vargas’ asphalt and paving enterprise, JR Asphalt, was awarded municipal contracts. Villegas-Vargas’ bribe funds and his efforts to hide these funds resulted in his enterprise being awarded over $9.9 million in municipal contracts in Cataño.
Different public officers in Puerto Rico have already pleaded responsible to receiving bribe funds from JR Asphalt, together with the previous mayors of Aguas Buenas, Guayama, and Trujillo Alto and the previous Administrators of Public Works in Guayama and Cataño.
Jose Bou-Santiago, 50, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was sentenced yesterday to 2 years in jail for conspiracy to commit federal funds bribery. In keeping with court docket paperwork, in April 2019, Bou-Santiago supplied a Rolex watch to the mayor of Cataño in change for a future municipal contract for Bou-Santiago’s firm, Bou Upkeep Service. Particularly, in June 2019, Bou Upkeep Service was awarded a building contract by the municipality valued at roughly $190,000.
Assistant Lawyer Normal Kenneth A. Well mannered, Jr. of the Justice Division’s Legal Division, U.S. Lawyer W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Legal Investigative Division, and Particular Agent in Cost Joseph Gonzalez of the FBI San Juan Area Workplace made the announcement.
The FBI San Juan Area Workplace investigated the circumstances.
Trial Attorneys Nicholas W. Cannon and Ryan R. Crosswell of the Legal Division’s Public Integrity Part and Chief of the Monetary Fraud and Public Corruption Part Seth A. Erbe for the District of Puerto Rico prosecuted the circumstances.
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